Nathalie was somehow in awe as he stared at Jonathan, who also admired the place he was in. Even if she has yet to know what kind of castle this was, the interior had refined intricacies of stones and bricks that withstood through eons.

    "This place, it''s like I know everything, and it feels like home."

    [Really?]

    Jonathan took a quick look at her, with face going dubious and quizzical. "Is it not the same for you?"

    [I think not that much. Just fragmented memories, everything still seems blurry. Probably because of the one that Athan made me drink.]

    After which, his lips parted, and went agape, nodding, the moment he got the gist of what she said earlier.

    "...Right, I see. I have read the epilogue." His head hung low when he took a second glance at her.

    Even Nathalie understood pretty well, for she became the villainess in the book.

    "The more I knew, the greater my regrets—"

    [You shouldn''t be.] Meanwhile, she shoved her palm, a few inches in front of his face, enough to halt him.

    "Why not?"

    Upon shaking her head, she replied, [TBH, I''m happy that you''re here. I understand where you''re coming from.]

    "No, you don''t." With how she tilted her head to the side—went disarray and all—he ought to clear his throat. "I mean, I''m not an avid reader, so to say, but that doesn''t mean I didn''t read when you''ve given me a copy of this as well." He tugged the lapel of his embroidered suit. Then, from the inside, he pulled out the book that was inside of the pouch.

    Her eyes also widened. [OMG!]

    It was ''The Prince''s Retribution'' with a special signature of Nathalie on the book''s lower-left portion.

    With a shimmering glance, she clasped her hands, gushing with amazement.

    "Your face says it all." Then, all of a sudden, he scratched the back of his head, averting his gaze as he chuckled deep. "Reading isn''t my hobby, but I won''t decline when you''re eager to hand me this when all of your fans are dying to have one, with a signature at that."

    Somehow, it made her smile as she caught the remnant of Jonathan, who would''ve reacted in a situation, as well as putting much effort to enjoy what she had been so passionate about in her life thus far.

    [Though, I wanna ask.] Nathalie put quite some thoughts into it as she hummed while now pressing the letters on her phone. [Did you have confusion about your identity?]

    "Not at all."

    [WTF?] A gasp and a few blinks were all she made for half a minute. [I mean, I don''t think I''ve created such a character—]

    "I get what you mean."

    At the moment, she was in all ears—as far as Jonathan was concerned, it was akin to waking up, and there came a deep understanding that I lived in that kind of world as well.

    However, she was vigilant and replied as soon as possible, [LMAO! Even if you think you had a surreal experience: to have best of both worlds, that doesn''t make sense—]

    "You might think it was all but a dream, but not when I got this…." He raised the smartphone he had with him. His pocket revealed the backpack he had with him and then pointed at the suitcase.

    He went on, telling the vividness of his memory dawned on him: he took several injuries from Mystique, from escaping away from the village, calling reinforcements, to meeting the tragedy with nothing but brightness and loud horns that dulled his senses.

    "That''s why I asked if it occurred the same way as mine."

    [Oh hell no!] Expressed her utter disbelief, shoving her hand again with the phone, showing a ''no ma''am'' GIF. [I feel the same way, except I identify myself no other than Nathalie Jean Quinn, and no one would ever take that away from me.]

    She prattled how she woke up with every memory of her until she had that grave accident; on the other hand, as much as she tried to dig into the memoirs of the villain, it was filled with gaps throughout her archive of memories.

    Most of the time, she had to act as Mystique to save herself and refrain from courting death.

    Moreover, it wasn''t only belongings or patterns that struck her head with quite a flashback, but also the people she interacted with, the ones bearing greater attachment to her.

    Jonathan was out of words when she said the things she wanted, kept from her chest the whole time.

    She was already a crazy psycho witch in the first place, and perhaps everything she came up with was simply out of the world, no pun intended.

    If not for Arnold and the Emperor''s stand—results mattered for whatever the result was if that meant the betterment of the empire—then she was off with her head a long time ago.

    "Unbelievable…" he breathed. "Honestly, while it did cross my mind that you might be Nathalie and not Mystique, I was too skeptical."

    The auction, to Jonathan, was meant to place trust among the crowd and prove his allegiance to Athan. Instead, it became a storm when another person, who was so eager to take everything, including the luggage, and only to find out later that it was none other than Mystique.

    [LOL, he said these suitcases were garbage!]

    "To be fair, since no one could open them, the luggage was indestructible and useless; they were supposedly sold by other nobles to generate more money." He shrugged. "It just so happened that His Highness became interested as well; I guess he knew you were number 5 before it even started?"

    With a curt nod from her, he went on to hum deep. "No wonder."

    [Also, FFS, I have so many questions to ask, but…] Nathalie fidgeted; as she hesitated from scrolling through her phone. But now that she was at it, it was better to ask his point of view from the ensemble characters of the story.

    Even Mystique, the villainess, was not an exception.

    Of all, her thumbs moved with the swiftness with a rapid clicking sound in the air, gluing her gaze on her phone when he remembered what Keith mentioned days ago.

    After that, she let him read it, which squinted his eyes.

    [Since you know yourself better than everyone else, are you aware of your gay affairs—]

    Jonathan widened his eyes, astonished.